Aging Amateur Radio Ops was Re: Politics - free

[Kevin Purcell]

The real test is the stats the ARRL collect: What is the average age  
of a radio amateur today and how is it changing? The last numbers I  
saw (for which I can't provide a cite) was that the average age was  
steadily increasing i.e. few new entrants into the field whilst the  
current population ages.

Wikipedia says the average age is now 60 years.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio_operator>

And this article says 55.5 years (for RTTY contesters)

<http://www.jarl.or.jp/iaru-r3/news/r3nl-05-12.doc>

> Average Age of the Amateur Radio Operator.
>
> The age of the operator was the ‘exchange’ for the JARTS RTTY  
> contest held from 15 to 16 Oct 05. Bob WA6BOB had 380 qso’s and  
> released the statistics that the ages spread from 23 to 87 years.  
> The weighted average of the operators works out to 55.5 years.

So amateur radio is basically a Baby-Boomer hobby. And like the  
Boomers it's slowly dying out. When I was a kid talking to someone  
1500 miles away was an interesting feat. Now anyone can do it.

It's not the only boomer hobby with a problem -- hiking is an aging  
hobby too.

The other barriers to entry (like removing the morse requirement or  
the age limit) have come too late. The hobby is just not interesting  
enough for most kids.

QRP HF, VHF, UHF, microwave, sat and digital modes always interested  
me the most. And now SDR and high speed data. The QEX people are  
pushing the boundaries. Unfortunately they're a tiny minority in the  
field.

That said a metropolitan area data network run in Part 15 that  
ordinary people could use I think could attract quite a lot of  
younger people. I'll have more to say on that in the main thread.

73 DE N7WIM (ex-G8UDP)
Kevin


On Dec 28, 2006, at 2:03 PM, jeff at aerodata.net wrote:

>>>> Hopefully this new year I (we?) will have more resources to put  
>>>> into a
>>>> alternate (Amateur/Part15) network.   Never enough time...
>>>
>>> Speaking of which, how do you feel about the dropping of Morse code
>>> proficiency from the amateur radio license testing?
>
> One of the interesting things about this it seems ever since I got my
> license at the age of 14 in 1976, I've heard this is a dieing  
> hobby. Yet,
> I also seem to recall, the numbers of hams in the U.S. has more then
> doubled.
>
> Now, if someone said this was a hobby that was more and more  
> irrelevent,
> I'd have to agree.

--
Kevin Purcell
kevinpurcell at pobox.com